Karpinski samples some micro greens at the Chef’s Garden. He arrived in town the night before and is visiting local farmers and artisanal producers to potentially source products for the new restaurant.

From Huron, the group drives 90 miles east to Hiram and visits Mackenzie Creamery, an artisanal producer of goat cheese. Urban Farmer Cleveland will feature a cheese cart and don’t be surprised to see Mackenzie’s “Baby Buche” on it. Christianson, Marsh and Karpinski sample several different flavors.

The team returns to a couple apartments several of the group had rented and the chefs—Christianson and Carr-Turnbough—go to work preparing all the samples they gathered during the week. Christian is first in line to taste their handiwork.

The next morning Karpinski gets a tour of the construction site with the project manager overseeing the massive hotel and restaurant project. Workers race to finish the exterior before the weather turns. The main entrance to the restaurant is in the opening on the left side of the building.

This opening behind the materials is the doorway to the restaurant from the hotel lobby. Having access and coordination from the hotel side of the project are huge advantages for Sage Restaurant Group, which is a part of Sage Hospitality, the company redeveloping the entire building.

After seeing the project, the Sage crew visits the Westside Market in Cleveland and then gets a tour of Caruso’s Coffee in Brecksville from Dominic Caruso. They're consider some of the company’s top blends and might even partner to create their own Urban Farmer flavor.

Peter Karpinski and a team of Sage Restaurant Group executives visited Cleveland in late summer to source and sample products for their Urban Farmer restaurant set to open in Cleveland next April. Features editor Eric Stoessel spent two days with them; here are some snapshots of what they saw.